#cars Did you learn anything from buying your electric car

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@IrrationalMethod @clew @Myphatself @stenpett
We're text driving my friends' Bolt next weekend

[finitum@mastodon.social]

@ohmu going through a broker was cheaper than any advertised price I could find through a dealership. Leasehackr.com exists, wound up using a broker I found there.

Free charging largely doesn't exist, I think its down to luxury brands & VW Buzz.
There's going to be a LOT of leases coming off 2 year leases this year, 3 year leases next year of people that got EVs to take advantage of tax incentives before they went away & i've seen some really decent deals on low mileage cars coming off lease.

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@Finitum
I had never even heard of a broker for used EVs! Thank you!

[kevin@mastodon.km6g.us]

@ohmu Yes... the ability to leave home with a full energy tank every time is life changing.

[irrationalmethod@social.coop]

@ohmu @clew @Myphatself @stenpett

text driving! My goodness! I thought that was illegal!

[greg_harvey@tooting.ch]

@ohmu So many things! Thing number one, maybe not a Leaf? Perfectly good cars, but needing to find a CHAdeMO charger is a pita... My neighbour has one and this is his single, but quite major gripe.

[brightstardust@mastodon.social]

@ohmu My cousin had a Leaf and it bricked itself while he was driving (no one got hurt thankfully). I forget the details but apparently the Leaf (specifically the Leaf, so not all EVs!) engine/electrical/something is complete shit.

[alextheuxguy@fosstodon.org]

@ohmu positives are I love regenerative braking, almost no maintenance needed, free chargers are awesome and not going to gas stations is great. Negatives are battery degradation (lost 50 miles in 6 years), insane registration fees (Ohio) that are 2-4 times more than the gas tax they are “making up” for, massive resale depreciation and frequent charges on road trips.

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@brightstardust
Ooh. That's the first I've heard of this.
My employer has a while fleet of Leafs. I'll ask if any of them have had this issue. It occurs to me it might be a particular model year.

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@greg_harvey
You're the third to mention the charging plug type.
I'll keep an eye on that. Thank you!

[eedly@mindly.social]

@ohmu Leasing our Mach-E turned out to be a better deal than buying it (spouse's car, so I don't know the details). Ford paid for most, if not all, of our charger installation too.

I currently use a 60mpg motorcycle with about 100 liters of luggage space for most around-town stuff*; I'm considering swapping it for a Can Am Origin (electric motorcycle), but that's still very hypothetical.

___
* Teenager sometimes allows herself to be shuttled from place to place on it, but not as often as I'd like.

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@eedly
All good info.

[sarae@ecoevo.social]

@ohmu still loving the Bolt, glad I got the most-rapidly-charging one I could

I am glad to have a level 2 plug at the CB house but use the 110 at the other house and yeah, if you're parking it overnight you should mostly be fine, but a 50amp/220volt plug isn't too expensive and should be forward compatible

my range issues are mostly days when I want to go to Eugene and back in a single day in the winter, because there aren't a ton of non-Tesla rapid chargers near restaurants I like

[kevinfreitas@mastodon.social]

@ohmu AND conversations can be much easier when not competing with engine noise. (at least it was for us coming from a 2002 Subaru to a 2018 EV)

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@sarae
The Bolt owner I was hoping to hear from .

[pussreboots@sfba.social]

@ohmu Charging up a car is about half the cost of fueling a car... even with needing to charge up a couple times during longer road trips.

Those necessary charging stops are something we look forward to as it forces us to slow down with our long haul trips.

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@KevinFreitas
Interesting.
You and I both live in Seattle. In my experience, there is nothing as loud as the road noise from the highways (I-5, 520, 99, West Seattle Freeway) running through town.
But you noticed a big difference...

[ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us]

@pussreboots
I hadn't thought of that perspective.
Has it changed how you plan road trips?

[kevinfreitas@mastodon.social]

@ohmu Here are all those Ars articles:

$5K https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/01/how-far-does-5000-go-when-you-want-an-electric-car/
<$10K https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/02/chevy-bolt-bmw-i3-or-something-else-at-10k-you-have-lots-of-ev-options/
<$15K https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/there-are-plenty-of-great-choices-if-you-want-to-spend-less-than-15k-on-an-ev/
$20K https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/youve-got-20000-to-spend-on-an-ev-here-are-some-options/
$25K https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/04/25000-buys-plenty-of-used-evs-here-are-some-options/

#ev #usedevs #arstechnica

[greg_harvey@tooting.ch]

@ohmu Welcome! I suppose in the US you lack our Chinese options. The go to Leaf-like car that gives you a bit more for the buck here is the SAIC MG4, but I don't imagine that's an option? I'd opt for early Kia / Hyundai stuff on a budget. First gen Kia Niro, or Hyundai Kona, both solid reputation and decent range. Maybe early VW ID.3 too?